Moore hails G-8 pledges on development and poverty

Press/23823 July 2001Moore hails G-8 pledges on
development and poverty alleviation

WTO Director-General
Mike Moore today praised leaders from the Group of Eight
nations for stepping up their efforts towards the
alleviation of poverty and the promotion of economic growth
in developing countries.

Mr. Moore, who addressed in
Genoa Friday the G-8 heads of state and government along
with leaders from several developing countries and chiefs of
other international organizations, said he was saddened by
the violence that gripped Genoa during the summit. But he
said this should not overshadow the efforts made by
governments of the eight nations. He said the G-8 Communique
was unprecedented in its devotion to addressing the problems
of the world's poorest nations.

“These
Democratically-elected leaders have made tackling poverty
and facilitating development in poor countries the
centrepiece of their efforts this past weekend. These are
precisely the goals of so many of those who protest against
the G-8 and other international organizations,” Mr. Moore
said.

The Director-General also strongly supported G-8
pledges of $1.3 billion in the struggle against AIDS. He
said he agreed with the leaders' assessment that the WTO's
agreement on Trade-related Intellectual Property (TRIPs)
provides the necessary flexibility to ensure that developing
countries have access to the essential medicines needed to
combat AIDS and other diseases.

The G-8 pledged to launch
a new round of global trade negotiations in November at the
WTO's Ministerial Conference in Doha, Qatar. Trade
negotiations aimed at scaling back barriers to imports from
developing countries, particularly the Least Developed
Countries, are critical to continuing economic growth and
poverty reduction, they said.

Mr. Moore has long pushed
for the elimination of all barriers to imports from LDCs. He
has been supportive of the efforts taken by G-8 governments
to open their markets to the poorest. But he said, absent a
broad-based set of trade liberalization negotiations, the
issues of greatest concern to poor countries will not be
adequately addressed.

“Absent a round, there is a risk
that trade will evolve on a regional or bilateral basis.
While regionalism has contributed positively to the
multilateral system in the past, it cannot be a substitute
for it. Many poor countries will find themselves outside
such agreements and unable to promote their interests as
effectively as in the WTO,” he said.

When addressing the
leaders in Genoa, Mr. Moore called on them to work towards
overcoming those difficult remaining issues that separate
them so that they may carry out their pledge of successfully
launching a round in Doha. Mr. Moore said he was pleased the
leaders agreed to take a personal interest in the process.

“Looking back at previous G-8 Communiqués one is struck
by the fact that Genoa marks a turning-point in the
commitment of leaders to making trade a critical element in
the war on poverty. Together with debt relief, good
governance, adequate levels of finance to assist capacity
building and sound macroeconomic policies, trade is a vital
element in the cocktail of development assistance,” Mr.
Moore said. “I welcome and support G-8 efforts in this
regard and look forward to working with them to build
support for a balanced round of negotiations that offers
promise and opportunity for citizens of all
nations.”

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